PIERRE, S.D. (KELO AM) A consultant from Colorado who tried to help the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe open a marijuana resort on the reservation north of Sioux Falls is heading to trial in Pierre.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin Thursday in the case of Eric Hagen, who was indicted on state marijuana charges. The CEO of the consulting firm Monarch America has pleaded not guilty.
Hagen was charged months after the tribe destroyed its pot crop and put its plans for a resort on hard hold, fearing a federal raid.
The Santee Sioux would have become the first Indian tribe in the country with legal marijuana, but State Attorney General Marty Jackley and other state leaders fought the idea from the very beginning..
Recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado and that's why the tribe sought consultants familiar with legal pot to help put the tribe's operation in gear. The tribe contended the pot resort would have brought in millions of dollars to the local economy.